One Night to Fall by Kelsey Kingsley

​CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Publication date: 12/03/2017
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: No

Kelsey Kingsley is super cool—as both an author and as a person. She has just the right attitude and temperament (not to mention the talent) to make it to bestseller status. Even after I told her that while I enjoyed her writing style, her first book, Holly Freakin’ Hughes, wasn’t my cuppa, she very kindly thanked me for my feedback (you’d be surprised how many people don’t care for feedback AT ALL. I might’ve received a death threat or two. Just sayin’.).

And, she was then brave enough to come back and offer me the opportunity to read her next book, One Night to Fall. I took her up on it, mostly just because I dig her style. But I’m happy to say that the book won me over pretty quickly, too.

First of all, this was a nice, quick, easy read with really nice pacing. It didn’t drag on and on, and considering that it was a second-chance romance for two folks that never should have been separated in the first place, it was surprisingly low angst. (I have a super-low threshold for angst, so that’s a huge positive for me.)

Patrick was incredibly charming. I have no idea how Kinsey held out as long as she did when he was set on worming his way back into her good graces. I also have a particular weakness for a sexy Irish accent, so the fact that Patrick’s accent was so clearly conveyed (and without a ton of annoying phonetic spellings that I had to decipher) was really cool for me.

Kinsey was a decent heroine. (Maybe not as charming and adorable as Patrick, but decent in her own quiet way) I totally understood her hesitation to jump back into a relationship with Patrick. But while she managed to hold out for 2 whole years under an onslaught of Patrick’s sexy Irish adorableness, she never ventured into bitchy territory, which I totally appreciated.

If I was to complain about anything (which, let’s face it, I kind of always do), I’d say that the way the story flipped from past to present got a tad irksome after a while. There were lots of flips. I understand why the story was structured this way (it gives readers a full picture of Patrick and Kinsey as characters and let’s us get to know them both in a deep and meaningful way), my personal preference is for stories to stay in the present.

I’ll also admit that the reasons for Patrick and Kinsey’s original breakup irritated me, as well. They were stupid kids making stupid mistakes. (Mistakes were made on both parts) If Patrick and Kinsey had made these mistakes as adults, this would’ve been a DNF deal-breaker for me, but I cut them a little slack because it’s just not realistic to expect dumb kids not to make dumb mistakes. But even so, there was one point while reading that I actually yelled (out loud, which really startled my dogs) at the two of them for acting like idiots and ruining a really great relationship.

But, minor gripes notwithstanding, this is a fun, well-written, second-chance romance all wrapped up in a first love/coming of age story that readers of smart, quirky, funny contemporary romance should try on for size.      
   
Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
Crushes it! This one’s clean and sober. No rehab needed.

Other reading suggestions
Just because it wasn’t for me, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try Holly Freakin’ Hughes. And for another second-chance, coming of age romance combo that’s super well done, try out Penny Reid’s Elements of Chemistry. (Actually, just go ahead and get the whole Hypothesis series. Once you start reading, you won’t be able to stop at book 1) And for more second-chance romance suggestions, check out this list.

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